


fourth time is the charm

by itsabirditsaplaneitsmediocrefanfics



Category: South Park
Genre: First Kiss, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-15
Updated: 2018-06-15
Packaged: 2019-05-23 12:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,782
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14934558
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsabirditsaplaneitsmediocrefanfics/pseuds/itsabirditsaplaneitsmediocrefanfics
Summary: A story about all the times fate got in the way of Tweek and Craig's first kiss, and then the one time it didn't.A request fulfillment for an anon on my TumblrRated teen for underage drinking references





	fourth time is the charm

**Author's Note:**

> I have a Tumblr - it's mediocrefanfics.
> 
> Feel free to talk to me, ask me questions, make suggestions and ask for requests!

When Craig and Tweek try to kiss for the first time, they’re eleven.

Craig has already kissed plenty of girls on the playground, all pointless endeavors for bragging rights. He already knows when he’s an adult and someone asks him about his first kiss, he’ll describe this one, though.

This will be Tweek’s very first - he’s only ever had one girlfriend and was too terrified to even hold her hand. But Craig isn’t just his boyfriend, he’s his _best friend_ , and he never talks about it, but he thinks about it literally all the time. The idea of kissing Craig makes him drop mugs and run into other people, and once he even accidentally called Mr. Garrison “mom” because he was too distracted by the thought of finally getting to kiss Craig.

One day, when Tweek’s mom has run to the grocery store and Tweek’s dad is busy at the shop, Craig and Tweek are doing homework together on the couch. Red Racer plays faintly in the background, and Tweek lets out a contented sigh, putting his head on Craig’s shoulder. It’s always easier for him to concentrate on things when he’s around Craig.

Craig closes his math book quickly.

“What’s going on?” Tweek asks, raising his head up.

Craig looks at him, with those green eyes that makes Tweek feel both terrified and elated at the same time. He can’t decipher what’s going on in his head.

Tweek doesn’t know why, but his heart beats so loud he can hear it in his eardrums.

“Can I kiss you?” Craig says it so lowly, so hesitant, Tweek barely hears it.

He just nods, unable to form coherent words, and reaches for Craig, who leans in.

“Tweek! Craig!” his mom calls from the back door, accompanied by the rustle of grocery sacks that thud on the floor. “Can you help me bring in the groceries?”

They say nothing, neither one willing to pull away or pull closer.

“Tweek! Craig!”

“We - we’re coming, mom!” Tweek gets up and hurries through the kitchen, Craig following behind in a daze.

Mrs. Tweak smiles at them, and later, when Tweek is grown, he’ll realize she could read the blushes on their faces.

The second attempt is when they’re fourteen.

They broke up a year ago, when Craig was tired of being _different_ , being the _gay one_ , being a _part of a duo_.

Tweek has grown non-committal, anyway, and Craig thinks it has something to do with the cute boy that just moved in down the street, who smiles at Tweek _in that way_ with perfectly, white straight teeth. Craig thinks about knocking them out a lot.

When he gets out-of-school suspension for the second time that school year, and the principal is threatening to send him to alternative school, his parents sit him down and rip him a new one. He knows he deserves it, and he sits there, at the kitchen table. They tell him he’s grounded. They tell him they’re _this close_ to sending him to military camp this summer, and that alternative school might be good for him. When his dad calls him a disappointment, though, he gets up and shoves the table. Craig tells them to go fuck themselves as he walks out of the house.

He doesn’t mean to be a disappointment, he’s just angry, so angry all the time at nothing.

Craig’s phone buzzes, and he realizes there’s probably some sensitive material of the horny teenage boy variety he should delete of his phone before his parents confiscate it.

He takes it out of his pocket. It’s a text from Tweek, asking him if he’s okay. Clyde told him about how Craig got caught smoking cigarettes in the boys’ bathroom, and he just wants to make sure Craig’s alright.

Craig doesn’t even know how to respond. He just knows seeing Tweek will unravel the awful knot in the pit of his stomach, so he asks if Tweek will meet him at Stark’s Pond. Tweek almost immediately answers yes, and Craig relishes in feeling anxiety over something promising rather than hopeless.

When Craig makes his way to the pond, Tweek is already there. He’s taller and thinner than he was, and he’s got a quirky, boy-next-door vibe to him. His over-sized cherry red sweater looks beautiful against his pale skin, and it’s soft when he throws his arms around him.

Tweek pulls away and searches Craig’s face.

“I think they’re going to send me to alternative school,” Craig chokes, trying hard not to cry and almost failing.

Tweek’s face falls. “I’m so sorry, Craig.”

“It’s my fault. I’m the fuck up.”

“You’re not a fuck up. Don’t say things like that.”

Craig knows if he says something, he’ll really start to cry, so he just crosses his arms and shakes his head.

The way Tweek looks at him, though, breaks the dam, and he finds himself grabbing him. He buries his face in Tweek’s hair and cries. His shoulders shake, and he’s pretty sure he’s getting snot on him, but Tweek just rubs circles on Craig’s back.

When Craig finally pulls away, Tweek puts both hands on his face and draws him in. The way Tweek’s lips are so pink and curved shove everything else out of his mind.

Timing is a cruel bitch, though, and they’re interrupted by the long, loud honk of a car horn. It’s Craig’s parents on the adjacent street in their shitty van. It looks like his mom’s been crying, too, and his dad doesn’t even look mad anymore, just exasperated.

“You should go,” Tweek whispers.

He kisses him on the cheek, and Craig gulps, finding the bravery to turn around.

That night Craig makes a promise to his parents and himself.

The third time is when they’re 16.

They’re at Clyde’s homecoming party and drunk off of cheap beer. They’re together, not officially, but everyone knows Craig will punch anyone who makes eyes at Tweek. Tweek loves this, though, and something seems so perfect about it. Craig is with him because he _wants_ to be, not because he’s beholden by a title such as boyfriend.

They’re sitting in a circle and playing truth or dare despite Craig, Token, and Kyle’s protests they’re way too old for it. Tweek is too dizzy and sloshy to care. He can smell Craig’s cologne and the way his Black Sabbath T-shirt is just so perfectly stretched against all those muscles he has from doing whatever it is football players do make him want to rip it off.

Tweek realizes they’ve never even kissed, and he giggles, causing Craig to smile at him and grab his hand.

It’s Clyde’s turn, and he triumphantly points a finger towards Tweek. “Truth or dare?”

Tweek shrugs, but says dare because he’s too drunk to be a good actor at the moment, and if Clyde asks him anything about his trip to the hospital last year, he might just throw up Natty Light all over the floor.

“Kiss Craig!”

Everyone groans.

“No, really! They’ve never kissed before, but Craig really wants to,” Clyde says earnestly.

“Dude, seriously? Not supposed to tell everyone that.” Craig punches him in the arm.

“I don’t believe that,” Stan says. He shakes his head. “They’ve been together since the fourth grade.”

“It’s true,” Tweek sighs, his stomach not feeling the greatest at the moment. He’s not sure if it’s the alcohol or the thought he’s about to finally kiss Craig.

Craig squeezes his hand and looks at him with uncertainty. Tweek is busy enraptured with how handsome Craig is, with his sharp jaw and straight nose, when he finally realizes there’s about fifteen people watching them at the moment.

His stomach lurches.

When they’re older and married, Tweek will tell their children how he threw up all over Craig at a party as a cautionary tale.

When they finally kiss, they’re 17, on the cusp of 18.

It’s the night before their high school graduation, and they’re sitting under a tree at South Park’s small park. It’s dark and quiet and a little humid.

“So, the Air Force, huh?” Tweek asks, unsuccessfully masking the sad tone in his voice.

“Well, I have to make it through the academy first,” Craig answers, brushing Tweek’s bangs off his face.

“Florida is so far from L.A.”

“Yeah, it’s almost about as far apart as you can get on the continental U.S, Tweek,” Craig laughs. He quiets when he notices the tears in the moonlight. He brushes them from Tweek’s eyes. “There’s planes and cars and Skype and phones, babe. Four years will fly by before you know it. We’ve just both got to make the effort.”

 

Tweek just shakes his head. “I love you, Craig,” he chokes.

Craig holds him and kisses him on the cheek. “I love you, too.”

Time stops, and Craig is vaguely aware of a cricket near them. The air smells like an oncoming storm and in the distance thunder rumbles.

The way Tweek looks at him is full of fire and passion and something so tender and wonderful, Craig finds himself speechless.

Then they finally kiss.

He’s amazed at how well their lips fit together before Tweek starts kissing him deeper, and Craig’s mind fuzzes out.

All he can smell and taste is coffee and incense and something sweet. It occurs to him to tangle his fingers in Tweek’s hair, and he tilts his head up to almost consume him.

Craig never wants this to end. They’re so enraptured by each other, they don’t notice the drops of rain. He's is so busy feeling the thump of Tweek’s heart against his, his soft hair in his fingers, his slender hands ghosting the sliver of skin at his waist, Craig doesn’t even care when the rain seeps through his jacket.

Tweek’s the one that breaks away, and Craig embarrassingly whimpers a little.

Tweek giggles. “Hey… this isn’t the last one,” he says over the increasing sound of rainfall against the leaves, clasping his hands with Craig’s.

Craig sighs and gets up, helping Tweek stand.

They don’t bother to run for cover but slowly make their way home in comfortable silence.

Once they get to Craig’s house, he sneaks Tweek in, and they undress each other out of their soaked clothes. They spend the night together, kissing and pressing their rain-chilled bodies together underneath the bedcovers.

When their kids ask about a photo on the mantle of them in their graduation garb, and Craig kissing Tweek with so much gusto, Tweek’s back is arched, Craig will ask them if they believe their dads had their first kiss only the night before that.

They’ll laugh and say they don't. 


End file.
